Playoff Pulse is our morning rundown of the night that was and the night that will be during the MLB postseason.
Looking Forward ...
Much will be made in the lead-up to Game 6 of another Yankees starter -- Andy Pettitte -- going on three days' rest, assuming of course that that is officially announced Tuesday. Of course, there wasn't much of a choice for Joe Girardi.
The Phillies do have some interesting options as they head back to New York. Game 6 starter Pedro Martinez was the easy part, but you can't expect him to go all nine innings, so, especially if the Phillies have a lead, what happens then?
In Advanced Scouting, MLB FanHouse's professional talent evaluator breaks down each of the playoff teams from a scouting perspective.
While the Phillies have been able to upgrade their pitching with the additions of Cliff Lee and Pedro Martinez, this is a club that needs to rely on its potent offense. If they're allowed to jump on the opposition early and get into hitters' counts, they can make it a long night for anyone.
Obviously, stopping the likes of Ryan Howard, Raul Ibanez, Chase Utley, and Jayson Werth among others is easier said than done. But, one of the keys is going to be good left-handed pitching against them. Perhaps most crucial is going to be putting pitchers up against them that can keep the ball on the ground.
''He's done enough and shown enough, and we have confidence in him enough that going into spring training next year it's his job,'' manager Lou Piniella said. ''And we'll leave it just at that.''
While this is good news for Marmol, it's more a result of Gregg stinking in the closer's role, more so then Marmol beating him out for the job.
After two days of waiting and wondering, the Phillies seem to have settled on a plan for struggling closer Brad Lidge.
The right-hander, who has blown 10 saves this year, will pitch mostly in low-leverage situations with occasional save chances possible, manager Charlie Manuel said before Thursday night's game against the Nationals.
Manuel left the door open for Lidge to close again in a full-time role if he gets himself straightened out, but made it clear that for now he'll mostly get work in mop-up situations when the Phillies are either way ahead or behind.
Poppin' out of the box scores and right into your cubicle, the Roto Rush is your double espresso shot of fantasy baseball advice every weekday.
For about five months of the season, Diamondbacks outfielder Chris Young was a draft disaster. Those who picked him in fantasy leagues suffered through the nausea of a sub-.200 batting average and anemic power numbers. Where was the dude who hit 32 homers in 2007 and 22 in 2008? Absolutely nonexistent ... at least until the last four games.
Starting Five is our wrapup of the previous day's baseball action with a quick nod to what is ahead.
You Oughta Know ... That at least for a night Ryan Madson was the Phillies closer.
A day after Madson came on with the bases loaded in the ninth inning to clean upBrad Lidge's latest mess, he was manager Charlie Manuel's first choice to protect Philadelphia's 6-5 lead over the Nationals. He didn't disappoint, allowing just one hit as he locked down his sixth save of the season.
Phillies skipper Charlie Manuel replaced Brad Lidge with Ryan Madson once before as the team's closer, but that was due to a Lidge injury. Now Lidge may be losing his job due to poor pitching.
On Tuesday night Lidge gave up a hit, walked one, let loose a wild pitch and hit a batter in the ninth inning while only recording one out. Manuel hopped out of the dugout and took the ball from Lidge, giving it to Madson with the bases loaded. Madson recorded his fifth save as he retired the next two batters, striking out one and ending the game with a ground ball to shortstop.
Manuel said later that he had no idea who would be the Phillies closer moving forward. He was only trying to win games.
Poppin' out of the box scores and right into your cubicle, the Roto Rush is your double espresso shot of fantasy baseball advice every weekday.
By now we all know of the greatness of San Francisco pitcher Tim Lincecum. He's the best pitcher in baseball this season, with a 2.34 ERA, 1.02 WHIP and 233 strikeouts in 200 1/3 innings. But there's another hard-throwing young kid in the Giants organization that, like Lincecum, has a shot to be one of the league's best very quickly. He's a guy you want to burn that No. 1 waiver priority on, in case he sticks in the rotation for the rest of the season. He is Madison Bumgarner.
Poppin' out the box scores and right into your cubicle, the Roto Rush is your double espresso shot of fantasy baseball advice every weekday.
While it was just one game, Cole Hamels sure looked like he was back in vintage form.
The Phillies ace, who is rocking a 4.52 ERA and 1.34 WHIP this season, threw eight shutout innings in Pittsburgh on Wednesday, striking out seven batters in all. Hamels actually has been better than his ERA and WHIP indicate, as he now has 126 Ks versus just 33 BBs this season. I'll take that K/BB ratio from my pitcher any day, as nine times out of ten, the ERA and WHIP will be sparkling.
Unfortunately for Hamels, the ninth inning ended up being the most dramatic frame of the game.
Playoff Pulse is our morning rundown of the night that was and the night that will be during the MLB postseason.
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It was one of the more hotly debated topics of the off-season, which spilled into Spring Training and even the regular season. We wanted to know if 
After two days of waiting and wondering, the 
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Poppin' out of the box scores and right into your cubicle, the 
Poppin' out the box scores and right into your cubicle, the 
